Speculation that the White Sox may have acquired Edwin Jackson to “flip” him to the Nationals for Adam Dunn makes it hard to properly evaluate the deal from Chicago’s point of view yet, but there’s no need to hold off in saying Arizona did extremely well to get pitching prospects Daniel Hudson and David Holmberg for Jackson.
I was underwhelmed by the Diamondbacks’ haul for Dan Haren, but Jackson is a much different story. Some teams remain convinced that Jackson has ace potential because at times he unleashes overpowering raw stuff, which was on full display when he no-hit the Rays last month. Of course, the no-hitter also included eight walks and Jackson has been awful overall this season, going 6-10 with a 5.16 ERA and 104/60 K/BB ratio in 134.1 innings.
Jackson hasn’t pitched quite as poorly as that ugly ERA suggests, but he’s a soon-to-be 27-year-old with a 4.74 career ERA and has posted an ERA under 4.40 exactly once. He’s also owed for $8.25 million next season, which makes him an overpaid mid-rotation starter and makes unloading his contract plenty valuable for the Diamondbacks by itself. That they were able to clear Jackson’s salary off the books and get a pair of useful prospects is a great move, particularly since Hudson is a decent bet to out-perform Jackson in 2011 while making $400,000.
Hudson was so-so in 34 innings with the White Sox, but the former fifth-round pick has an excellent minor-league track record that includes a 2.79 ERA and 195/50 K/BB ratio in 174 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. He’s ready to step right into Jackson’s rotation spot and is under team control through 2015. At just 19 years old Holmberg is nowhere near the majors, but he was a second-round pick last June and Baseball America ranked him as the White Sox’s eighth-best prospect coming into the season.

I don’t get this trade at all. And why would the Nationals want Edwin Jackson and his bloated salary? Makes ZERO sense all the way around. If I were the Nationals, I would have rather had the two prospects the Diamondbacks received than Jackson.